imagining india online: second-generation indians in

IMAGINING INDIA ONLINE:
SECOND-GENERATION INDIANS IN GERMANY
URMILA GOEL
A positive image of India
I did not like this tone: “We Indians are totally amazing!” It’s a bit like:
lets pump some self confidence into the second generation and portray…
everything amazing Indians of the first, second, or whatever generation
have done. 1
24-year-old Neha, like some other users I interviewed in the course of the
research project “The virtual second generation,” is rather critical of the
image of India created by the internet portal theinder.net. She dislikes the
exclusive focus on the outstanding and positive which she already
observed in the magazines of first-generation migrants from India in
Germany. A closer look at the factors leading to the establishment of the
theinder.net shows that this impression is not without cause. Devraj, one
of the founders of theinder.net explains:
In the environment where I grew up I could see what image of India people
have. The typical view, which is a pure cliché, is: first of all fakir, poverty,
IT specialists, Hinduism and, I don’t know, incense, something like that.
But this is an image which is not correct. Certainly, these are influences
from India which have come here, and thus the image developed. But in
many ways I consider this a negative image, and, in particular through the
1
The interviews were conducted in German as part of the research project “The
virtual second generation,” funded by the Volkswagen-Stiftung (for more details
see http://www.urmila.de/forschung). For this paper I translated the interviews into
English and anonymised my interview partners.
The original quote is: “So ein bisschen gefiel mir dieser Tenor nicht: Wir Inder
sind ganz toll! Das ist ein bisschen so: wir pushen der zweiten Generation mal ein
bisschen Selbstbewusstsein rein, wir porträtieren mal auf dieser Plattform alles
was Inder so in der ersten, zweiten und was weiß ich wievielten Generation Tolles
geleistet haben.”
Urmila Goel
211
discussion about the Green Cards, Indians have not really become popular
in Germany. […T]here was a lot of scepticism there[…People asked:] do
we really need these specialists? In order to show the other side of the
image, we established theinder.net […] to draw a positive image of India.2
The internet portal theinder.net has thus been created to counter the
dominant images of India in Germany. The founders wanted and want to
represent their ascribed country of ‘origin’ in a positive way. As Miller
and Slater3 have shown in the case of Trinidad, this idealised
representation is likely to appear on internet portals established by
marginalised groups and is a reaction to the hegemonic and forceful
discourses they face. In this article I will describe the images of India
created and negotiated on the theinder.net and discuss which functions
these fulfil. The analysis is based on methods of social and cultural
anthropology and on theories on the construction of social identities4 and
racism5. The study interprets material collected in extensive field studies
both on- and offline.
2
“Ich sehe immer anhand des Umfelds, in dem ich aufgewachsen bin, was für ein
Indienbild die Menschen haben. Die Menschen sagen - diese typische Sicht, ist
eigentlich ein pures Klischee, was hier eigentlich herrscht - erstens Fakir, Armut,
GreenCardInder und solche Sachen halt. Hinduismus oder so, ich weiß es nicht.
Räucherstäbchen, keine Ahnung, so was in die Richtung halt. Das ist einfach ein
Bild, dass so nicht stimmt. Ich meine es ist klar, das sind natürlich Einflüsse, die
aus Indien hierher gekommen sind, dadurch hat man auch dieses Bild. Aber ich
finde in vielerlei Hinsicht einfach ein negatives Bild und besonders auch durch
diese GreenCard-Diskussion sind die Inder nicht gerade beliebt geworden in
Deutschland. Sind ja auch nicht, sagen wir mal so, es gab ja auch keine
Schwemme von IT-Spezialisten jetzt unbedingt, aber es war auch viel Skepsis da,
nicht in meinem Umfeld jetzt, aber ich habe auch viel gelesen im Netz. Da war
auch, brauchen wir wirklich, brauchen wir tatsächlich diese Spezialisten? Dieses
Bild auch von einer anderen Seite darzustellen, das ist so der Grund warum ich
oder wir das Indernet gegründet haben oder auch machen wollen. Und dieses
Indienbild ist einfach, das schon zu versuchen, das positiv darzustellen.”
3
Daniel Miller and Don Slater, The Internet: An Ethnographic Approach (Oxford:
Berg, 2000).
4
On the constructions of social identities see: Richard Jenkins. Rethinking
Ethnicity: Arguments and Explorations. London: Sage, 1997; Antohny Cohen,.
The Symbolic Construction of Community. London: Tavistock Publications, 1985;
Fredrik Barth. Ethnic Groups and Boundaries. Boston: Little Brown & Co., 1969
and Rogers Brubaker. Ethnicity without Groups. Cambridge: Harvard University
Press, 2004.
5
On racism see: Stuart Hall, “Rassismus als ideologischer Diskurs,” in Theorien
über Rassismus, ed. Nora Räthzel (Hamburg: Argument, 2000), 7-16; Robert Miles
212
Second-Generation Indians in Germany
A space for the second generation
A click on www.theinder.net takes one to the self-proclaimed “Indian
Online Community”, which also calls itself “Germany’s Indian online
portal”. The internet portal, theinder.net, was founded by three students in
the summer of 2000. The founders were all born and raised in Northern
Germany, where even fewer Indians live than in the South6. They have
known each other since childhood as their Indian parents met regularly at
religious functions. The founders had been experimenting with the internet
and creating personal websites for some time. In 2000, when the German
news was dominated both by the planned introduction of Green Cards to
attract foreign IT professionals as well as the conservative counter
campaign Kinder statt Inder (children instead of Indians), the three
decided to merge their websites to create their own Indernet (a neologism
meaning ‘network of Indians’ which merges the German word for Indians
(Inder) with internet). Their initiative was the right one at the right time,
and satisfied the emerging need of a demographically growing group of
second-generation Indians. Since then the number of users has grown to
many thousands, new editors have joined, old ones have left, the media
take notice of the internet portal, and most members of the second
generation know it. The portal is by now well established, as evidenced by
the number of users and the degree of publicity it has gained. Nonetheless,
it is still run on a voluntary basis and is financed through advertisements.
The Indernet offers both editorial content on India and Indians in Germany
as well as interactive elements for online discussions. It is a self-organised
“Bedeutungskonstitution und der Begriff des Rassismus,” in Theorien über
Rassismus, ed. Nora Räthzel (Hamburg: Argument, 2000), 17-33; Paul Mecheril,
Prekäre Verhältnisse. Über natio-ethno-kulturelle (Mehrfach-)Zugehörigkeiten
(Münster: Waxmann, 2003) and Maureen Maisha, Grada Kilomba, Peggy Piesche
and Susan Arndt, eds., Mythen, Masken, Subjekte: Kritische Weißseinsforschung in
Deutschland (Münster: Unrast, 2005).
6
For the history of Indian migration to Germany see: Christiane Brosius and
Urmila Goel, eds., masala.de—Menschen aus Südasien in Deutschland
(Heidelberg: Draupadi Verlag, 2006); Elisabeth Dessai, Hindus in Deutschland
(Moers: edition aragon, 1993); Jose Punnamparambil, “Die indische Gemeinschaft
in Deutschland,” in Handbuch ethnischer Minderheiten in Deutschland, ed. BIVS
(Berlin: Berliner Institut für Vergleichende Sozialforschung, 1995); Heidemarie
Pandey, Zwei Kulturen—eine Familie: das Beispiel deutsch-indischer Eltern und
ihrer Kinder (Frankfurt/Main: Verlag für Interkulturelle Kommunikation, 1988), as
well as http://www.urmila.de.
Urmila Goel
213
space of second-generation Indians,7 a space which allows them to become
what they think they really are, as Miller and Slater have described. In this
space, the editors and users can negotiate their identity as secondgeneration Indians, fill this identity with content and represent it.
Second-generation Indians need this virtual space to become what they
believe themselves to be since in their daily lives their ‘ethnic’ identity
and belongingness8 are constantly questioned. To use Mecheril’s terms,9
they are Other Germans (Andere Deutsche). Mecheril defines Germans
independently of citizenship or ancestry as those who were socialised in
Germany, have lived, and will live there. But as the Other Germans are
considered to deviate from the fictitious ideal image of the StandardGerman they are constructed and treated as Others. According to Mecheril,
their sense of belonging to more than one national entity does not fit the
mainstream views about univocal belongingness to only one.10 Thus both
from the majority society and their parents, who both position themselves
as belonging to one country unambiguously, they are considered to be in a
precarious situation of unclear identification and are pressured to declare a
unique affiliation. Multiple belongingness or hybridity11 are considered
abnormal and dangerous. Given the dominant racist and essentialist
understanding of German as ‘white’12 and descending from German
7
See Urmila Goel, “Fatima and theinder.net—A refuge in virtual space,” in Import
Export—Cultural Transfer—India, Germany, Austria, eds. Angelika Fitz, Merle
Kröger, Alexandra Schneider and Dorothee Wenner (Berlin: Parhas Verlag, 2005),
201-207. See also Kathleen Heft and Urmila Goel, Räume der zweiten Generation:
Dokumentation eines Workshops (Frankfurt/Oder: Viadrina, 2006).
8
The term belongingness refers to Mecheril’s analysis in Prekäre Verhältnisse of
the complexities of, and reasons for senses of belonging and denial of belonging,
as well as the consequences of the resulting interactions in racist contexts.
Belongingness is more than a sense of belonging or an affiliation to some
institution. According to Mecheril belongingness can only be established when the
individual’s sense of belonging is met by acceptance by those to whom the
individual feels to belong. In Prekäre Verhältnisse Mecheril develops his theory of
belongingness and shows how the denial of belongingness is a central experience
in the lives of Other Germans.
9
Mecheril, Prekäre Verhältnisse.
10
See also Avtar Brah, Cartographies of Diaspora: Contesting Identities (London:
Routledge, 1996).
11
For a development of the concept of hybridity, see Homi K. Bhabha, The
Location of Culture (New York; London: Routledge, 1994). See also Pnina
Werbner and Tariq Modood, eds., Debating Cultural Hybridity: Multicultural
Identities and the Politics of Anti-Racism (London; New Jersey: Zed Books, 1997).
12
Based on Critical Whiteness Studies (see Eggers et al, Mythen) I use the term
‚white’ to mark the normally unmarked hegemonic position in a racist system.
214
Second-Generation Indians in Germany
blood,13 second-generation Indians will not be considered Germans by the
majority. They are rather defined as in essence Indians, who by ancestry
are Others. Because of this dominant ascription and consequent selfdefinition,14 I use the terms second-generation Indians as well as Other
Germans for them. The former term is a self-description while the latter is
an analytical category.
Terminology is a major problem in this article. Having chosen to write
about the category of second-generation Indians in a geographical space
referred to as Germany I am caught in a terminology which constantly
refers to nations as if they existed unambiguously, even though I set out to
question these notions. I refer to Indians, Germans, India and Germany,
although I question the meaningfulness of each of these terms, argue that
they are understood in many different ways and that their inherent
ambiguities are the basis of exclusion and othering. Every time I use one
of the terms I should mention that I use the term only as a social
construction, which is only seemingly unambiguous. Neglecting to do so
lets me and the reader slip into the norm of considering the terms
meaningful. But language and style conventions prevent me from marking
each term, for example by inverted commas. I thus have to rely on the
readers to remember throughout the text the ambiguity of the terms.
Other Germans experience in their daily lives constantly the dominant
belief in essential national identities, which are considered to be
genetically inherited. Battaglia has analysed how they are faced with
seemingly innocent questions which are based on a belief in unambiguous
national belongingness.15 As Ferreira argues, these questions are rooted in
racist structures.16 When Other Germans are asked where they come from
in most cases the only accepted answer is the country from which their
ancestors are believed to have come When they have to answer that they
do not know the language of their ‘foreign’ parent, they are pitied. It is
presumed that they feel allegiance to the other country and they are
expected to know everything about it. Whether in school, at work, or
13
See also Eggers et al, Mythen.
See also Richard Jenkins, Rethinking Ethnicity: Arguments and Explorations
(London: Sage, 1997).
15
Santina
Battaglia,
“Interaktive
Konstruktion
von
Fremdheit.
Alltagskommunikation von menschen binationaler Abstammung,” in Journal für
Psychologie 3.3 (1995): 16-23.
16
Grada Ferreira, “Die Kolonisierung des Selbst—der Platz des Schwarzen,” in
Spricht die Subalterne deutsch? Migration und postkoloniale Kritik, eds. Hito
Steyerl and Encarncion Gutierrez Rodriguez (Münster: Unrast Verlag, 146-165),
146-165.
14
Urmila Goel
215
among friends, second-generation Indians are considered experts on India.
They constantly need to give information about the caste system, the
bindhi or spirituality without regard for whether or not their Indian parent
is actually Hindu or for whether they have at all contact to an Indian
parent. This function as an expert, however, is very difficult for the Other
Germans to fulfil. Like those who ask them, they have been socialised in
Germany; they have studied and consumed media there. Some have never
travelled to India, and most know almost only the home town of their
Indian parent. To admit this lack of knowledge vis-à-vis ‘white’ Germans
is, however, an act of degradation. Thus and because they know more
about India than most of the other Germans many second-generation
Indians give information about India and start to believe themselves that
they are experts. An example for this is also the Indernet. The editors have
assumed the role of experts on India: they publish articles, answer
inquiries, believe in their competence to do so, and because of their
ascribed ancestry, are considered competent in this field.
It is only natural that second-generation Indians wish to represent a
positive image of India. They are identified with India by the others and
thus want this to be something ‘positive’. The external categorisation as
Indians is for most so powerful that they internalise it in the transactional
process of ‘ethnic’ identity construction.17 They imagine themselves as
part of an Indian community and contribute to imagining India. Doing so
they react to the dominant images of India with which they are faced in
Germany.
India as the Other
Ok, my interest in India is founded on a three-part story. First, you hear
that in India the cows roam the streets. This sounds like… well I said it
before…At such an age, when you are told that in the Orient there are
flying carpets and in India cows roam the streets. And so at first you think:
wow, must be a crazy thing.18
Rasmus, a ‘white’ German user of the Indernet in his late twenties, thus
explains his interest in India. The cow is one of the central images and
17
See Jenkins, Rethinking Ethnicity.
“Also gut, das Interesse an Indien basiert auf so einer dreistöckigen Geschichte.
Erstens hört man so, dass in Indien die Kühe rumlaufen, das hört sich so an, ja,
das habe ich früher gesagt, in so einem Alter, wo man gesagt bekommt, im Orient
gibt es fliegende Teppiche und so und in Indien laufen die Kühe rum. Da denkt
man erst mal: jojo. So, muss ja schon ein verrücktes Ding sein.”
18
216
Second-Generation Indians in Germany
exotic markers of India in Germany. It signifies the Other, the
incomprehensible, a lack of order, backwardness, and also the spiritual.
Second-generation Indians are often asked about it, about its holiness, and
about whether cows really roam the streets. In constructing a difference
between the West and the Orient, the organised and the unorganised, the
civilised and the natural, the rational and the spiritual,19 the image of the
cow is also a symbol for the yearning of many ‘white’ Germans for the
Other, the supposedly warmer and more easy-going Indians. They imagine
India to be a place where they can find values and emotions they are
missing in Germany. Rasmus is thus both disgusted and fascinated by (his
image of) India.
Jule, another ‘white’ German user of the Indernet who is just finishing
her schooling articulates this fascination with the Other in a more detailed
account and thus displays her implicit reproduction of racist images about
the Other. In her view, Indians have a different mentality. She considers
them as more ‘traditional’ and conservative which, in her perspective, can
lead to conflicts with supposedly more progressive Germans like herself.
But at the same time she says, “on the other hand, I think it is also nice.
The family counts more. And they are very, very warm, very kind. Any
Indian to whom I go would immediately give me the last food he has,
immediately, very hospitable …”20 She cherishes these perceived values
and warmth and generalises them for India. She is also fascinated by the
ascribed fact that “all Indians are more attached to their country than
many, many Germans are”21. Positioning herself implicitly as the
objective ‘white’ observer within the norm,22 she also criticises a tendency
to portray India too positively: “… in my boyfriend’s case it was also like
this. Concerning poverty he said, ‘we are not at all that poor,’ but one
certainly knows how many, many thousand poor people there are in
India.”23 In this question she considers the second-generation Indians in
Germany to be more objective: “Maybe—it is always difficult to judge—
19
See also Edward Said, Orientalism (New York: Vintage, 1978) and Eggers et al,
Mythen.
20
“Andererseits denke ich, na gut das ist aber eben auch schön, die Familie zählt
ein bisschen mehr und so. Und da sind sie auch sehr sehr warm, sehr freundlich.
Also jeder Inder, zu dem ich hingehe, die würden mir sofort das letzte Essen geben,
das sie haben, sofort, sehr gastfreundlich.”
21
“ist jeder Inder mehr verbunden mit seinem Land als viele viele Deutsche.”
22
See also Eggers et al, Mythen.
23
“Also bei meinem Freund war das halt auch so, dass der eher gesagt hat ja
Armut, wir sind gar nicht so arm, dabei weiß man ja wirklich wie viele viele
Tausend Arme es in Indien gibt”
Urmila Goel
217
but maybe some of those who can judge India the best are those who live
in Germany and have the whole culture from India. They are maybe the
most objective. I can never be as emphatic as I have not lived there, and
the Indians from there are anyways a bit partial.”24
These two random images of India articulated by ‘white’ Germans
illustrate the nature of the images the second-generation Indians are faced
with in Germany. Dominant among them is a construction of India as less
technologically developed, less organised, more in tune with nature, more
‘traditional,’ more spiritual, and based on ‘values.’ In contrast to typical
‘white’ images of Africa,25 these orientalist images are not obviously
connoted negatively. Instead, they are ambiguous, and display both a
longing and a distaste for India. Common to them, however, is inherent
othering. These images construct India as fundamentally different from
Germany. They do so in a hierarchical and hegemonic structure, where
Germany is the unmarked norm26, India deviates from it and thus is
marked as the Other. The Indians, also those of the second generation, are
identified with this image of India and are thus placed in the same
hierarchical and hegemonic relationship to Germans as India is to
Germany. The Other Germans are thus not only denied their
belongingness to Germany but also are placed in an inferior position. This
forceful categorisation and positioning has to be dealt with by the second
generation; they cannot ignore it and must position themselves in relation
to it. Like Mecheril, Jenkins27 has argued that this othering experience can
influence the ‘ethnic’ self-definition of the second generation in several
ways depending on the particular circumstances. In extreme cases, the
external categorisations can either be fully internalised or totally
24
“Vielleicht sind die, so zu urteilen ist immer schwierig, aber vielleicht sind
welche von denen, die Indien vielleicht noch mit am besten beurteilen können, die
in Deutschland gelebt haben und haben die ganze Kultur von Indien. Die sind
vielleicht am objektivsten. Ich kann mich nie so reindenken, weil ich nie dort gelebt
habe, und die Inder von dort sind sowieso ein bisschen voreingenommen.”
25
See also Susan Arndt, ed., AfrikaBilder: Studien zu Rassismus in Deutschland
(Münster: Unrast, 2001).
26
For discussions of the unmarked ‘white’ norm see Critical Whiteness Studies. In
Germany, see especially Eggers et al, Mythen.
27
See Jenkins, Rethinking Ethnicity and also Paul Mecheril, “Die Lebenssituation
Anderer Deutscher. Eine Annäherung in dreizehn thematischen Schritten,” in
Andere Deutsche: Zur Lebenssituation von Menschen multiethnischer und
multikultureller Herkunft, eds. Paul Mecheril and Thomas Teo (Berlin: Dietz,
1994), 57-94.
218
Second-Generation Indians in Germany
rejected.28 This can be seen in the context of the Indernet. Some of the
dominant images of India in Germany are rejected, others are adopted, and
yet others are adapted.
The Indernet’s nationalism
The internet portal, the Indernet, allows the (re)imagining of India in
many different ways, in diverse subspaces, and by several actors. The
design and the concept of the internet portal, as well as the articles written
by editors and users, display and construct images of India. In the
interactive elements the users negotiate their images in a framework
provided by the editors and adapted by the users themselves. The Indernet
thus does not present only one purposefully constructed image, but rather
provides a space where several images are continually constructed and
changed. These images interact with each other, alternately reinforcing
and contradicting each other.
The basic framework of the Indernet was developed in the summer of
2000. Although there have been changes in the design, the concept, and
the elements, the basic idea of the internet portal and the images of India
remain. The domain name, theinder.net, refers to a network of Indians.
The logo is a stylised Indian flag, and the design uses images from India
and the Devanagri script. Already in 2001, a special report on India, “The
discovery of India,” was put online (and has not been updated since). It
provides information about the Republic of India focussing on national
and nationalist symbols. Similarly, most of the editorial content deals with
India in the borders of the Republic. There is hardly any information about
other South Asian countries. India’s diversity is acknowledged but no
focus is put on it. The articles rather refer to national topics or those of
interest in international relations. The Indernet thus links itself to the
geographically and politically well-defined Republic of India and its
symbols of nationhood. But despite this focus on the Republic, the
founders understand India as a culture which encompasses the whole of
South Asia. Devraj explains: “I would say we need to define India in two
ways. On the one hand, as for the facts, it is the country in its clearly
28
See also Mareile Paske, “Andere Deutsche”—Strategien des Umgangs mit
Rassismuserfahrungen (Frankfurt/Oder: Viadrina, 2006).
30
“Ich würde sagen Indien ist, ja man kommt aber nicht darum herum das auf zwei
Arten zu definieren. Einmal ist es tatsächlich rein, jetzt von den Fakten her, ist es
der Kontinent, nicht der Kontinent, sondern das Land und mit dem klar definierten
Grenzen und so weiter und sofort. Aber rein kulturell betrachtet ist es der
Subkontinent.”
Urmila Goel
219
defined borders, etc. But from a cultural perspective it is the whole
subcontinent.”30
This view is shared by Deepak, who goes even further than his cofounder Devraj in the interview and displays a clear allegiance to Hindu
nationalist ideology. When I ask him about his closeness to Hindu
nationalism, he distances himself from the violence but not from the
ideology. He argues: “I can, for example, support the argument that the
Indian culture is a Hindu culture. But this does not restrict other religions,
because, for example, an Indian Moslem is culturally in fact a Hindu, but
his religion is Islam.”31
Deepak influences the images of India conveyed by the Indernet not
only through the sanskritised Hindi he uses, but also in articles and
anonymous postings as a user. In these writings he discusses issues like
Hindu India or Hindi as the national language. Nonetheless, the editors
claim to have a politically neutral approach. As far as my observation
goes, this neutrality, however, shows itself primarily in the fact that no
party political statements are made and no political censorship is pursued.
Both in articles and in the interactive elements, contributions which
reproduce Hindu nationalist and communalist ideologies are tolerated. For
example, a thread about the failing success of the BJP in Kerala starts
with:
Hello, at the moment there are elections in some Indian states. What I find
sad and surprising is that in Kerala the BJP does not succeed at all. Why is
this so? Aren’t the majority of the population in Kerala Hindus? Are
Hindus in Kerala suppressed by Muslims and Christians? I once heard that
more than anywhere else the South of India is a safe haven for Muslim
terrorists. They commit terrorist attacks in Kashmir and then flee to the
South, where they live well and safely. I am not against Kerala, but I
consider the results of the elections a bit fishy. Everywhere else the BJP is
in Parliament, but not in Kerala. What a shame! 32
31
“Kann ich zum Beispiel vertreten, dass eben die indische Kultur eine
hinduistische Kultur ist, dass das aber eigentlich andere Religionen nicht
einschränkt, weil zum Beispiel auch ein indischer Moslem kulturell gesehen quasi
ein Hindu ist, aber seine Religion ist halt der Islam sozusagen.”
32
“Hallo, zur Zeit sind Wahlen in manchen Bundesländer in Indien. Was ich
traurig und überraschend finde ist, dass in Kerala die BJP überhaupt nicht
reinkommt. Wieso ist das so? In Kerala leben doch auch noch am meisten Hindus?
Werden in Kerala die Hindus unterdrückt von den Muslims und Christen ? Ich hab
mal gehört, dass vor allem der Süden von Indien immer ein sicherer Ort für
muslimische Terroristen ist. Die machen Attentate in Kashmir und flüchten dann
ganz in den Süden und leben dort ganz gut und geschützt. Ich hab nix gegen
220
Second-Generation Indians in Germany
While several users have argued against this poster’s views, he has not
been prevented from continuing his extremist posts. The moderators do
not intervene, even though I have asked them to do so. The dangers of this
apolitical approach, which by not questioning an extreme ideology in fact
supports it, were discussed by participants from India at a conference on
cultural transfer between India and Germany.33 The Hindu nationalist
subtext of the internet portal is neither noticed nor reflected upon by most
editors and users. In most interviews, my interview partners deny any such
tendencies. In fact some have criticised me for claiming its existence and
consider this a misrepresentation of the internet portal. I concur that the
Indernet is not conceived as a space promoting Hindu nationalism, and
that most of the editors and users would distance themselves from any
such overt attempt. But my impression is that most editors and users are
not trained in critical analysis of nationalist rhetoric and lack critical
background information about Hindu nationalism. Thus it is difficult for
them to discover aspects of Hindu nationalist ideology behind nationalist
articulations. Nationalism is something normal and positive for them,
something they are pressured to adhere to by the dominant discourse on
‘ethnic’ identity, and something they long for in their search for
belongingness. Hindu nationalism at first glance makes them some
attractive offers. They accept these without knowing and reflecting upon
the extremist ideology from which they stem. Thus Hindu nationalism is
reproduced and gains supporters without conscious propagation by the
majority. When discussing with the MA student Savitri about Hindu
nationalism on the Indernet she said:
It is possible that somebody with certain tendencies can be convinced
without noticing. Frankly, in my case this would be difficult. I did read the
posts and thought them interesting, but with me it is difficult, because […]
I always hold against such positions, because India cannot be equal to
Hinduism.34
Kerala Leute, aber ich find die Ergebnisse von den Wahlen halt bisschen komisch.
Überall sonst ist die BJP im Parlament nur in Kerala nicht. Schade!”.
33
See Urmila Goel, “Das Indernet und die indische Community—Diskussionen
bei Import Export am 12.08.05 in Berlin,” in DIG Mitteilungsblatt 3 (2005): 17-18.
Also
available
online
(http://www.indiennetzwerk.de/navigation/ereignisse/artikel/import-export_05_nb.htm).
34
“Es ist, glaube ich, insofern möglich, wenn jemand schon so eine gewisse
Neigung dahin hat, ihn dann davon zu überzeugen, dass er es gar nicht
mitbekommt. Bei mir wäre es ehrlich gesagt schwierig, ich hab mir zwar die
Beiträge immer wieder durchgelesen, fand sie auch interessant, aber bei mir ist es
schwierig, weil ich eben von vornherein eine Einstellung habe die so etwas ….
Urmila Goel
221
Imagining a modern India
The design of the Indernet not only refers to nationalist ideas of India
but also can be described as ‘modern’, ‘young’ and ‘dynamic’. Most of my
interview partners praised it as professional and attractive; it thus appeals
to the target group. Many users long for such an image of an ‘advanced’
and ‘energetic’ country.
Maya, a user from Switzerland who works in an international
company, criticised in her interview the idealised view of India held by the
first generation, an India which she believes does not exist anymore. In her
view, the Indernet provides a space to portray the ‘actual’, the ‘new’ India.
It provides and develops images of it in the different editorial parts of the
internet portal. The news and media section deals primarily with India as
an actor in world politics, the business section focuses on high technology
and technical progress, and the entertainment section concentrates on the
popular Bollywood industry. This fascination with Bollywood is the
closest the Indernet comes to dealing with issues relating to the everyday
lives of the majority of the Indian population. There is otherwise little
information about India beyond the metropolitan cities and outside the
high tech industries. The site thus offers few representations of the sort
that dominate ‘white’ German images of India, in particular about the
images of poverty Jule refers to in her interview. Although, like many
others, Maya wants images of a progressive India to be represented on the
Indernet, she at the same time sees this gap in coverage: “What I am
missing on the Indernet is a clear political positioning, taking a clear
stand on certain issues. I mean, there are a lot of things in India which
could be improved. One should maybe report more on this. Okay, we do
employ many Indians from India here. But the whole economic growth
which we have in India is relevant only for a small percentage of the
population.”35
Nonetheless, critical articles about social or political problems in India
are almost totally lacking. The few contributions dealing with the less
Wobei ich mich immer gegen so welche Positionen verwehre, weil Indien nicht
gleich Hinduismus stehen kann.”
35
“Was mir vielleicht ein bisschen fehlt, ist doch eine klare politische
Stellungnahme oder auch klar Position zu beziehen zu gewissen Themen. Ich
meine, es gibt ja nach wie vor in Indien viele Sachen, die verbesserungswürdig
sind, und dass man da vielleicht mehr drüber berichtet. Okay, wir holen jetzt zwar
selber viele Inder aus Indien hierher, aber das ganze Wirtschaftswachstum, das
wir in Indien haben, betrifft doch nur einen geringen Prozentteil der
Bevölkerung.”
222
Second-Generation Indians in Germany
glamorous and advanced aspects of India instead highlight a particular
achievement of someone or something considered as a curiosity from a
Western perspective. They thus focus on the “amazing” and outstanding
as Neha, quoted above, has argued. Such articles can be found particularly
in the section entitled “women.” Here the ‘outstanding’ achievements of
Indian women like Kiran Bedi are portrayed. This seems to be partly an
attempt to counter the dominant ‘white’ German image of the suppressed
Indian woman. The image of the beautiful Indian woman, on the other
hand, is not rejected but rather supported on the Indernet. Many visual
images are based on this, depicting long dark hair, a bindhi, revealing
clothing, and a seductive gaze. In the women’s section (rather than in
entertainment or culture and society) there are reports about Indian
dancers, another positively connoted ‘white’ German image of Indian
women. There is a subsection on fashion, which for example contains an
article about the sari, something that fascinates many ‘white’ German
women . These typical features of the women’s sections of magazines are,
however, not what the editor in charge wants to focus on: “I said from the
beginning, I will not publish recipes, to make this clear, that was the first
thing I said. And I will not establish a fashion corner for some Indian
dolly-birds. … I said one can portray Indian personalities, female Indian
personalities, and reports on the women’s movement, about organisations
which are active in India or here.”36 While presenting a positive image of
India, she thus did not want to the reproduce the typical gender roles in
both German and Indian society. Her attempt, however, is only partly
successful as the Indernet as a whole is heteronormative.37 In the women
forum section this is even more obvious: here sexist and homophobic
remarks are found regularly. A new user complained about the focus on
“hair oil and bangles” in the thread “what about feminism?!” .38 Her
demand for feminist discussions was answered by rude sexist attacks using
36
“Ich hab dann auch von Anfang an gesagt, also ich werd hier keine Kochrezepte
veröffentlichen, damit das schon mal klar ist. Also das war auch das erste, was ich
gesagt habe, also denkt bloß nicht daran. Und ich werd hier auch keine Modeecke
für irgendwelche indischen Püppchen einrichten. ... Dann hatte ich auch gesagt,
indische Persönlichkeiten, weibliche indische Persönlichkeiten kann man mal
darstellen, ja und dann aktuelle Berichte von Frauenbewegungen, von
Organisationen, die in Indien oder hier sind.”
37
See Urmila Goel, “‘Kinder statt Inder’—Normen, Grenzen und das Indernet,” in:
Jugend, Zugehörigkeit und Migration - Subjektpositionierung im Kontext von
Jugendkultur, Ethnizitäts- und Geschlechterkonstruktionen, eds. Thomas Geisen
and Christine Riegel (Wiesbaden: VS Verlag, 2007): 163-181.
38
The original quote: “Haaröl und Bangles“
Urmila Goel
223
vulgar language, reproducing heteronormative images, and insulting the
poster.
Negotiating India
The Indernet’s editors can influence the discussions in the forum only
to a limited extent. They provide the framework, which is then adapted by
the users to fit their needs. While at the beginning the editors based the
structure of the forum on that of the editorial sections, they have by now
changed it to mirror the actual usage. Most importantly they added a
subforum for small talk, which has by far the most postings. In the early
days of the Indernet, the space for this informal chatting was the
guestbook. But this was closed years ago because insulting postings—
known in internet terminology as flaming—were becoming unmanageable
for the moderating editors. Once in a while they also moderated the
forums, deleted a posting, relocated a thread, and demanded more serious
discussions. But in recent years there have been periods of several months
where no indication of any attempt to moderate has been evident. This has
since changed somewhat. Since the restructuring of the forum in the spring
of 2006, there are moderators who occasionally censor postings. But so far
this seems to happen rather haphazardly. In my observation, primarily
personal insults are targeted. I once complained about a sexist thread,
which was then deleted. Other sexist threads like the one referred to above
stayed online. My criticism of a Hindu nationalist thread did not even
receive a reply.
In the forum discussions one can identify the same longing for a
positive image of India which is defined through progress or technology as
in the articles. Like the editors, the users reproduce the values inherent in
racist discourses. Attributes associated with the West—e.g. modernity and
civilisation—are considered positive while attributes associated with
images of the Orient—e.g. traditional and linked to nature— are
considered negative. But in contrast to the edited articles, the images of
India in the forum are less univocal. While some users claim that India is
advanced etc., others reproduce ‘white’ German images of India that focus
on poverty and backwardness. The former group refers to achievements
like the IT sector and the atomic bomb and argues that India is equally or
even more advanced than Germany. The latter group talks about the lack
of infrastructure, the social problems, India’s inability to deal with these
problems itself, and the resulting need for Western developmental aid.
Similar discussions can be found in a series of articles by users called
“Mein Indien” (“My India”) which is advertised as follows:
224
Second-Generation Indians in Germany
India is the country of extremes. It is diverse like hardly any other nation
of this world. To understand India is also a philosophical issue, with which
everybody has to deal himself. Thus everybody has his own idea of India.
Curry, computer, holy cows … No matter how you understand India,
whatever India means to you, put it on the screen with an image or in the
form of an article.
Give us an understanding of your India.39
So far about ten articles have been put online in this section. Most of them
display a struggle between nationalist pride in the country and problems of
understanding those issues which from a Western perspective are
considered shortcomings. The first article was put online in 2001. The
author starts by regretting that India hardly won medals at the Olympic
Games in Sydney and then continues: “Where does this lack of good
sportsmanship of the Indians come from? The population shows more
interest and pride when the Indian government does nuclear tests. It seems
as if the people are not aware that if some Indian politician goes crazy, a
culture which is more than 5000 years old could be destroyed. ‘My poor
India’! Just like that. It is not a great achievement to build a nuclear
bomb. A much bigger achievement would be to offer the 300 million
people below the poverty line a humane future or perspective.”40 He goes
on to accuse Indian politicians of corruption and not finding a solution to
the Kashmir conflict. He praises the country itself, its diversity, and
peacefulness. He criticises Bollywood for being too shallow and the IT
specialists for leaving the country, and ends with a plea to the Indian
government and population to be more progressive. The next articles in
39
“Indien ist das Land der Gegensätze. Es ist facettenreich wie kaum eine andere
Nation auf dieser Welt. Indien zu begreifen oder zu verstehen ist auch eine
philosophische Sache, mit der sich jeder für sich auseinandersetzt. Daher hat jeder
seinen eigenen Begriff von Indien.
Curry, Computer, heilige Kühe... Was auch immer ihr unter Indien versteht, was
auch immer Indien für euch bedeutet, bringt es als Grafik (jpeg oder gif-Datei)
oder in Form eines Artikels auf den Bildschirm! BRINGT UNS EUER INDIEN
NÄHER!”
40
“Woher kommt diese "Sportlosigkeit" der Inder? Die Bevölkerung zeigt mehr
Interesse und Stolz, wenn die indische Regierung Atomtests absolviert.
Anscheinend ist es den Menschen nicht bewußt, falls irgendein indischer Politiker
durchdrehen sollte, eine über 5000 jährige Kultur zerstört werden könnte. "Mein
armes Indien"! Einfach so. Es ist keine große Leistung oder Kunst eine
Atombombe zu bauen. Eine viel größere Leistung ist es, wenn man 300 Millionen
Menschen, die unter der Armutsgrenze leben, eine menschliche Zukunft bzw.
Perspektive bieten kann.”
Urmila Goel
225
the section “My India” more or less react to this article. Like the first
author the following want to be proud of India but at the same time are
irritated by many things.
Like in the forum discussions, the articles often display contradictory
views: users frequently stress the modernity of India in one section of the
article and then in another section express regret at its perceived
backwardness. The interview with the MA student Savitri offers one
example of this ambivalence. On the one hand, she criticises other secondgeneration Indians who reproduce the ‘white’ German images about India
as a poor and dirty country. She regrets that they do not have a “real
relationship to their own country”41 and argues: “I think India has more to
offer than being only poor and dirty, and belonging to one of the threshold
countries–it really is no longer a developing country; it is a threshold
country.”42 On the other hand she is aware of social problems, has for
example written her BA thesis about girl mortality in India and condemns
communalism. Later on in the interview, she implicitly offers a way to
resolve this seeming contradiction. Commenting on homophobic remarks
on the Indernet and in the community she says:
I think we have the possibility of living differently, because we are not in
India. Although I have to say, in India homosexuality is also gaining more
publicity. People dare to do something, they are also organising a
movement. I think sometimes people are not really aware about such
structural things in India, about what is changing there, what kind of
movements there are. Who knows that there is environmentalism in India,
that women go to the streets for their rights, or that gays and lesbians
organise themselves? It is a pity that this is not within the perspective. It
would also be an issue where the Indernet could do a bit more. Not only
report about business, politics and tourism, describe journeys through
India, and Bollywood, but really look at the society.43
41
“keinen wirklichen Bezug zu seinem eigenen Land”
“Ich denke Indien hat schon mehr zu bieten, als dass es nur arm ist und dreckig,
und noch zu einem der Schwellenländer –es ist ja nicht mehr wirklich ein
Entwicklungsland, es ist Schwellenland – gehört.”
43
“... wir die Möglichkeit haben, hier etwas anderes auszuleben, weil wir eben
nicht in Indien selber sind. Wobei ich sagen muss, in Indien kommt die
Homosexualität jetzt auch stärker zum Vorschein, die Leute trauen sich auch etwas
zu machen, die machen jetzt auch solche Bewegungen. Ich glaube, manchmal
bekommen die Leute solche strukturellen Sachen innerhalb Indiens gar nicht so
wirklich mit, was sich da verändert, was es für Bewegungen gibt oder so. Also, wer
wird sich denken, dass es in Indien Umweltschutz gibt, oder dass Frauen auf die
Strasse gehen für ihre Rechte, oder dass Schwule und Lesben sich zusammen tun.
Das ist eben, wie ich schon vorher schon gesagt habe, Schade, dass man nicht den
42
226
Second-Generation Indians in Germany
In this argument Savitri shows how the longing for a modern image of
India and the perceived social backwardness can be brought together.
Rather than focussing only on the most common popular indicators of
modernity, one could look closer at the social development of the country.
The Indians in Germany would then also notice that India is more
progressive than they are. Such a change of perspective is found, however,
rather seldom on the Indernet.
Experts on India
A reason for this might be that many of the editors and users have little
knowledge of the country. Some hardly ever travel there, most know only
the ‘home’ town of their parent(s), others have no contact with Indians at
all. India is a holiday place, a place to relate to emotionally without
knowing too much about it. Seba, who was adopted as a small child in Sri
Lanka by ‘white’ parents from Germany, is one example. He tells me that
he does not distinguish between Sri Lanka and India: “It is all the same
for me.”44 Like other second-generation Indians who know little about
India, Seba often asks the other users for information on India. One of his
first posts was an inquiry about the meaning of his second South Asian
name. I get the impression from the forum and the interviews that users
like Seba believe that they are the only ones to know so little, experience
this as a sense of failure, and reproduce the mainstream ascription that all
members of the second generation should be experts on their ascribed
country of ‘origin’. Seba like all the other users of the Indernet is not
representative. In fact his ignorance about India and his naivety are quite
extreme. But he is not alone in his quest for information and his belief in
the competence of the others. Peter, who grew up without his Indian
father, shows the same attitude when he asks in the forum: “Does the fact
that my father belongs to a caste make me a Hindu? Or is there more to
it? Are there any rituals like baptism, communion, and confirmation in
Blick dafür hat und das wäre schon ein Punkt, wo das Indernet auch mal ein
bisschen mehr dafür tun könnte. Also nicht nur über Wirtschaft und Politik und
Tourismusorte berichten und Reisen in Indien beschreiben und Bollywood,
sondern auch mal wirklich die Gesellschaft betrachten.”
44
“Das ist alles für mich dasselbe.”
Urmila Goel
227
Catholicism?”45 This question both illustrates his lack of knowledge and
his belief that second-generation Indians should know the answer.
The reliability of the answers to such questions varies. My participant
observation suggests that rather few users have sound knowledge about
India and provide answers which can pass critical analysis. As I have not
done any quantitative analysis of the Indernet, I cannot specify the
percentage of such users. If in the following I use the quantifiers ‘some,’
‘many’ or ‘most,’ these classifications are based on impressions from my
field research. Some users—neither the majority, nor a negligible
number—have a clear political or ideological bias, but represent their
answers as ‘objective’. Most users seem to answer on the basis of personal
experience or opinion without reflecting that these might not do justice to
the whole. From my interviews, I know that several potential users who
have a sound knowledge of India, or are trained in critical assessment of
information, do not rely on the information provided on the Indernet.46 It
however appears that most of the users seem to take the information
provided to be ‘true’, ‘objective’ and ‘neutral’. They appear to found their
image of India at least partly on what they are told on the internet portal.
So, for example, a teenage user whose parents are from Kerala and speak
Malayalam followed the discussions about Hindi as the only national
language and joined in this political demand. He probably is not aware of
the internal debates in India about what makes it a nation, which role
Dravidian languages like Malayalam play, and the feeling of many South
Indians that the national language Hindi is part of North Indian dominance
over them.
Indian values
As in most other youth internet portals, relationships are a central topic
of discussion. On the Indernet this includes not only the usual flirting and
small talk; it touches also a major aspect of their othering experiences.
According to my interviews, when users have two Indian parents, these
parents in most cases had an arranged marriage. Arranged marriages,
however, are a difficult topic to discuss in Germany. Most ‘white’
Germans consider them an ‘archaic tradition’, which in particular
suppresses women. Often the term forced marriage is used as a synonym
45
“Macht mich die Tatsache, dass mein Vater einer Kaste angehört rein formell
bereits zu einem Hindu oder gehört da mehr zu. Gibt es irgendwelche
Initiationsriten ähnlich der Taufe, Kommunion und Firmung bei den Katholiken?”
46
See Goel, “‘Kinder statt Inder.’”
228
Second-Generation Indians in Germany
for them, implying that these arrangements are always established by
force. Second-generation Indians thus know that an arranged marriage can
hardly be explained to ‘white’ Germans. Individuals from families in
which arranged marriages are the norm face a predicament. If they
condemn the institution like their ‘white’ friends do, they reject their
families. If they, however, support it, they not only come into conflict with
their ‘white’ friends but also have difficulty explaining why they then do
not want to have one. The Indernet offers a space where they can discuss
this issue with others who have had the same experiences, and who also
feel this ambivalence.47 While in my observation the number of marriages
that have been arranged according to the ‘traditional’ rules is rather low
among second-generation Indians in Germany (there seem to be only
individual cases), the expectations of the parents are nonetheless shaped
by this institution. Many hope for a spouse for their children who is from
the same community, speaks their language, and has the same religion.
Even if they realise that the whole process of arranging will not be
possible, they hope that their children will stay more or less within the
rules. There might also be attempts to introduce a suitable partner as
discussed in the thread “Wedding plans?”, where a male user relates his
relatives’ attempts to introduce him to suitable girls and asks the others
about their experiences and advice.
Another strand of discussion in this context regards the question of
premarital sex and multiple relationships. Here, many second-generation
Indians are again in a quandary. On the one hand, they are brought up in a
society where public discourse suggests that one needs to have sexual
intercourse early and often. On the other hand, many Indian parents
believe that sexuality should be controlled until marriage, and that there
should be only one partner in life. This topic, like the issue of arranged
marriages, is difficult for second-generation Indians to discuss with
‘white’ friends. Those who think within the German norm would most
likely not understand the problem48 and thus would recommend that
second-generation Indians ignore ‘tradition’ and do whatever they please.
This, however, would not resolve their contradictory aims of parental
approval and personal choice in matters of sexuality. The Indernet seems a
better place to discuss this issue. Many second-generation Indians consider
the control of sexuality, respect for their parents, and conservative family
values in general as part of Indian culture. They would like to adhere to
these values both out of respect to their parents and in an effort to preserve
47
48
See Goel, “Fatima and theinder.net.”
See also Paske, Andere Deutsche.
Urmila Goel
229
their ascribed Indian identity. Like Jule, many of them have learned to
consider this notion of Indian culture not only as essentialist but also as
superior to German culture. They thus support the image of the caring,
warm, and conflict-free Indian family. In the interview, Binod, a business
consultant, asserts: “… one learns to appreciate Indian culture more,
learns to appreciate the values, learns to appreciate the values concerning
family, something that is lacking in German culture today, which gets
lost.”49 He especially refers to divorces between Indian migrants and their
‘white’ German wives. This motivates him to look for an Indian spouse
himself and to use the Indernet to meet suitable girls. During the entire
interview, Binod emphasises that he has never experienced racism. At the
same time, he describes many instances that can be decoded as racist.50
His strategy to deal with racist experiences seems to be to negate them, to
locate cultural differences as the causes for othering, and to position
himself as an actor rather than a victim.51 Considering Indian culture as
superior to German culture and thus reproducing the images of ‘white’
Germans like Jule can be interpreted as part of this strategy. Binod
internalises ascriptions and fills them with a positive meaning.
India as an idea and a reality
Two discussions in the culture and society section— “I want to go to
India because ….” and “Move to India?”—illustrate the ambiguity of
users’ images of India. In the former thread a 17-year-old Sikh starts with
the following post:
I opened this thread because I am interested in what is so special about
India or our other desi countries. Why exactly do they attract us?
I always want to go to India because I am fascinated by the fresh morning
air in the villages. This is simply a miracle in itself. Especially the family
is something which does not exist in Germany. Especially the freedom to
do what one wants to do. Also the diversity of cultures and music draws
me to India. One just needs to go to India to have the whole world in front
of one’s door. But especially I like how the people live together, how they
sit together at the fireplace in the evenings on winter nights. To dance,
49
“... man die Kultur, die indische Kultur mehr schätzen lernt, die Werte schätzen
lernt, die familiären Werte schätzen lernt, was in der deutschen Kultur mittlerweile
fehlt oder immer mehr abhanden kommt.”
50
Ibid.
51
Compare “Rava Mahabi” in Mecheril, Prekäre Verhältnisse.
230
Second-Generation Indians in Germany
sing, and make music together is just something which attracts me and
makes it impossible for me to let loose of India. …52
The contributor’s holiday experiences of India provide him with an image
which is full of warmth, togetherness, and freedom. These are feelings he
probably experiences only to a limited degree in Germany as he lives in a
predominately ‘white’ German environment, is othered as a turbanwearing Sikh,53 and pursues the chores of everyday life. The first replies to
his post all agree with him and stress the superior values, warmth, and
togetherness of the family. The weather and food are also mentioned.
Later, the users start to discuss the corruption, incompetent politicians, and
disorganisation which make life in India more difficult. In general,
however, his paradisiacal image is perpetuated.
A contrary image is drawn in the second thread. Here, a presumably
‘white’ German user asks the others whether she should move with her
Indian boyfriend to his village in India. The immediate reply of several
users is “No”. Many tell her about the lack of infrastructure, especially in
rural India. They warn her of the closeness of a joint family. They argue
that if one wanted to move to India at all, then one should move to one of
the metropolitan centres because there one can have the same standard of
living as in Germany. Others join in by saying that one should only move
to India if one is rich and can afford an even better standard of living than
in Germany. There is some discussion about how bad the infrastructure is
and about how much money is needed to sustain a Western standard of
living. From the discussion it is clear that living in Germany is the norm to
which living in India is compared. The users would like to participate in
52
“Ich habe diesen Thread auf gemacht, weil ich mich interessiere, was gerade an
Indien besonderes ist bzw. unsere andere Desi Countrys. Warum uns die gerade
anziehen.
Ich will immer nach Indien, weil mich die frische Morgenluft der Dörfer (Pind) so
fasziniert. Einfach nur ein Wunder für sich. Vor allem das Familärische find ich
etwas auch, dass es in Deutschland nicht so sehr gibt. Besonders auch die Freiheit
alles zu machen was man will. Auch die Vielfalt der Kulturen und die Musik zieht
mich immer wieder nach Indien zurück. Im Grunde braucht man ja nur nach
Indien gehen und man hat die ganze Welt vor der Tür.
Aber vor allem das Zusammenleben der Menschen finde ich gut, wie man abends
zusammen am Feuer sitzt in den Winternächten. Zusammen Tanzen, Singen und
Musizieren, das zieht mich einfach an und lässt mich nicht los von Indien.”
53
Compare Michael Nijhawan, “Bin Laden in der U-Bahn und andere
Verkennungen: Beobachtungen in der Sikh Diaspora,” in masala.de—Menschen
aus Südasien in Deutschland, eds. Christiane Brosius and Urmila Goel
(Heidelberg: Draupadi Verlag, 2006), 98-122.
Urmila Goel
231
what they consider superior in India, but they do not want to lose the
standard of living they are used to in Germany. They want the best of both
worlds. In advising the ‘white’ German inquirer they are much more
realistic about this than in imagining the ideal India together with the
others. As long as India remains a dream, a place of refuge from the
othering experienced in Germany,54 the romantic images dominate. Once
India becomes a possible option, more pragmatic questions are raised.
Rejection and internalisation
An analysis of the ways in which India is imagined on the Indernet
confirms Neha’s criticism cited at the beginning of this article. The images
produced seem intended to support the self-confidence of secondgeneration Indians in Germany. In their everyday lives they experience
othering regularly, are constructed as Indians, and thus look for a
positively connoted India with which to identify themselves. The
ambiguous images produced are part of this process. The Other Germans
who make and use the Indernet struggle with their denied belongingness to
their country of residence, their ascribed affiliation to the country of
‘origin’ of their parents and with the images of India constructed in both.
They are socialised primarily in Germany through educational institutions
and the media. They have been raised with German discourses about the
West and the Orient, about modernity and tradition, about progress and
backwardness. These discourses provide them with tools to understand
and to deal with the images produced. Since they have been raised in
Germany, these discourses and values are closest to them. They can relate
to them more easily and are influenced by them at least subconsciously.
Thus they also judge the German images in these terms. Whenever a
German image of India is connoted negatively they tend to reject it, and
try to disprove it. Whenever it is positively connoted they tend to
internalise it, and to make it part of their own image. But they also notice
that the dichotomies constructed by the ‘white’ German discourses do not
fit their realities, and that evaluating India according to them misses many
facets. Thus they struggle with the ‘white’ German images and the
discourses underlying them in an effort to find something with which they
can identify.
Through this struggle, influenced by the images handed on by their
parents and as a consequence of the negotiation with other secondgeneration Indians, a new image of India is constructed: an image which
54
See Goel, “Fatima and the inder.net.”
232
Second-Generation Indians in Germany
they can proudly present to others, and with which they are happy to be
identified. This image, however, is not constructed consciously,
purposefully, or with political awareness. It is a simplified image of India
which fulfils its immediate aim of positive identification without reflecting
on its further consequences. Among these are the reproductions of
exclusions like those of Hindu nationalism or of heteronormativity.55
Contrary to Jule’s impression, second-generation Indians are not the
most ‘objective’. Living in Germany does not provide them with the
benefit of the ‘objective’ observer as Jule seems to imply. Most
importantly, providing an ‘objective’ image, whatever that might entail, is
not what the second generation desires. They need a positive image just
like the ‘white’ discourse needs an othered image of India, and each of
them constructs what they need. This might also be the reason why, just
before she criticised the deliberately positive image of India represented
on the Indernet, Neha explained why she thinks the internet portal is
something valuable. I asked: “What do you like about the internet portal,
when you often dislike the articles?”56 Neha answered: “Primarily that it
exists. … Certainly that it exists.”57
55
See Goel, “‘Kinder statt Inder.’”
“Wenn du aber Artikel jetzt häufiger nicht so gut findest, was findest du dann gut
an der Seite?”
57
“Das es sie überhaupt gibt als allererstes Mal. ... Das es sie gibt auf jeden Fall.”
56